The number of Australians arrested and hospitalised overseas skyrocketed last financial year, prompting a warning from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop about reckless behaviour and the growing workload placed on Australian consular officials.
A total of 1551 Australians were arrested in foreign countries in 2015-16, an increase of 23 per cent, with drugs, fraud and assault the most common offences. There were 391 Australians assisted in overseas jails, 61 of which were in mainland China.
A further 1667 Australians landed themselves in overseas hospitals, an increase of 15 per cent. The biggest hospitalisation hot-spots were Thailand, (176 incidents) Indonesia (153), the US (122), New Caledonia (75) and Vietnam (72).
Ms Bishop said the figures made for "interesting reading". She was particularly concerned about a lack of knowledge about local laws and customs, noting that Australian consular action was "significantly constrained" once people were subject to a foreign legal system.
"The Australian government can only do so much, "she said. "The Australian government is not a hospital, it is not a hotel, it is not an internet cafe and our consular officials cannot just whisk you out of jail. People have to take responsibility for their behaviour overseas."
Earlier this month, nine Australian men in their 20s were arrested at the Malaysian Grand Prix after stripping down to their underwear, which featured the revered Malaysian flag. The so-called Budgie Nine escaped conviction and returned to Australia amid international headlines.
Just last week, three Australians were arrested in China as part of an apparent crackdown on foreign gambling activities in the country. The three executives were among 18 employees of James Packer's Crown Resorts empire detained in China on Thursday.
And former Turnbull government minister Wyatt Roy was accused of "war tourism" after he ventured into conflict-ridden Iraq in September. It earned him a strong rebuke from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who called the jaunt "very stupid" and disappointing.
The statistics, which Ms Bishop called "concerning", were contained in the annual consular overview published by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Wednesday.
In total, consular officials dealt with 15,740 cases arising from 10.2 million international departures, or about 43 a day. The Bangkok embassy in Thailand remained Australia's busiest consular post, with 836 cases, followed by the US, Indonesia, Italy and the Philippines.
Ms Bishop noted that while most requests for consular assistance were routine, involving lost passports or missed flights, they sometimes commanded national media attention - "whether it's a child abduction case in Lebanon, Australian tourists injured in terrorist attacks in Paris or over-exuberant Formula One fans in Kuala Lumpur".
Fairfax Media has asked for a breakdown of the cost of consular assistance provided to Australians overseas. Ms Bishop said the amount was "considerable" and that while the government reserved the right to recover costs in some cases, taxpayers mostly footed the bill.
The Survey of Australians' Travel Insurance Behaviour released on Wednesday showed eight per cent of Australians travelled overseas without travel insurance in 2015-16, making almost uninsured 850,000 trips.
Almost a third of those surveyed believed it was acceptable to travel to developed countries without insurance. "That is not the case," Ms Bishop warned, and called on all Australians to take out insurance regardless of the length, purpose or itinerary of their trip.
She was especially concerned that young people were significantly more likely to engage in risky behaviour overseas but less likely to take out insurance. About half of Australians between 18 and 29 also laboured under a false assumption the Australian government would pay for emergency medical bills overseas and flights home in an emergency.
The online survey of 1025 travellers was undertaken by Quantum Market Research for the Insurance Council of Australia and DFAT.
